Wednesday, January 18, 2012

What does a mom do when her child gets herself a job? She sits in the car and takes pictures, of course!

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﻿﻿A couple of weeks ago, The Girl Child﻿ announced she'd like a job. This was not news, as such a thing had been talked about - at length - in the past. We had looked into a couple of viable options but it didn't seem to be quite the right time.

It was two weeks ago today that she brought it up again. I suggested that she email the Nice Lady at the weekly newspaper to introduce herself and to restate her desire for a paper route. The first time she had contacted the paper, last fall, was through an online application tool at the website. At that time there hadn't been a route available in our area.

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So The Girl got busy and sent a nice email stating that she was a homeschooled high school student with a flexible schedule and supportive parents who were willing to take her to where the available routes were.

Almost immediately she received a reply with an offer for a Fill-In Delivery Person position. A few more emails flew, details were discussed and we were visited by the Nice Lady who was very excited to have The Girl on board.

The Girl's first task involved delivering papers to two routes two days after the papers had been due. Each route took about two and a half hours by the time all was said and done. Her remarks on the way home were that 'it was more work than it sounded like' and 'when, exactly, would the pay cheque arrive?'

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Said pay arrived much sooner than we thought it would. Hand delivered, no less! Just in time for a weekend shopping trip with her Grandma and Aunt.

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I think The Girl Child was pretty proud of herself throughout the process - but that's the point, right? A little independence and initiative to foster some feelings of satisfaction and pride. And the prospect of more work in the future - although, I must say, I think the novelty has worn off. I'm proud of her, too, for taking this on!

Last week, there was no route. This week, there is one. Papers will arrive today and need to be delivered by Thursday evening. It's up to The Girl to plan around her schedule and the weather. She'll let me know when and where to drop her off to get her work done. I think she's looking forward to the pay cheque more than the long walk in a strange neighbourhood with a sled of papers.